Heartbeat
by Taiyou no Yume
Summary: Sometimes, things just don't work out they way they should've.


**Heartbeat**

Toph felt it. Every time the two of them were together. She could feel their pulses racing and their hearts thumping. Even from the other side of the room, it was as clear as if it were her own heart racing in her chest.

She would bet all her money that if she could see, she would witness the water bender's ocean blue eyes flutter to the Fire Lord's face before moving back to Aang's face as he chatted away to her. _And_ she would bet her _earth bending powers_ that, after that, the fire bender's attention would fitter over to the Southern Water Tribe girl for awhile before muttering a sound of acknowledgement to Mai as she droned about something.

Toph knew that they had feelings for each other. Feelings that were stronger than friendship. Feelings of love.

But they kept denying it.

It wasn't as if they weren't compatible, I mean, opposites attract don't they? Fire and water, put them together and it just makes _sense_. And though their roots differed enough to make a would be relationship more than interesting enough, their personalities were so similar it just made the puzzle fit even more beautifully, both were passionate and a little hot headed at times. They fought their hardest to protect the people they loved and they were an amazing team.

It was almost as if it were fated.

She heard their footsteps as they excused themselves from their conversations with their lovers and gravitated to each other.

But then fate screwed up.

She heard the shy 'hi' that came from Zuko, before Katara immediately set him straight, questioning why her best friend was being so distant and immediately their usual sparring, bantering, and dare she say, _flirting_, took place.

A smirk quirked up her lips as she heard (because she was _not_ eavesdropping) their conversation.

"Idiots," she muttered, but it was so soft that only her numbskull boyfriend heard her as her kissed her on the forehead.

"Come on Toph, you know why my sister and Zuko aren't doing anything about this," he pacified.

Yes, Sokka knew about their secret attraction for each other. And surprisingly, he had figured it out on his own.

Did you see her problem now? Even thick skulled, denser than water _Sokka_ knew what was going on between them. That was how obvious their attraction to each other was.

She didn't reply but listened in silence as she heard a playful smack followed by laughter from the direction they were at.

Oh how Toph longed to just scream at them to just get together and end it already. End their suffering. End their pain. Pain she knew they felt every time they saw their other half walk into another person's arms. The ache they felt when they reached out for each other's hand before stopping short upon realizing what they were doing.

But she won't say anything. Not now, not ever. She knew why they weren't admitting their feelings to each other. She knew why they weren't pursuing a relationship together even though they really wanted to.

She glanced at the direction the duo were at sadly, she knew how much they were sacrificing, they were shutting away their feelings, and why they were marrying people they didn't love. She sighed again and shook her head.

This was all to keep the peace. The delicate, fragile peace that they had just created in this world.

A war had just ended. A war that lasted over a hundred years. The tranquility that they were enjoying right now was very, very breakable. One wrong move and everything they had worked to built in the last ten years would be for naught. I mean, how would it look like to the world if the Fire Lord 'stole' the Avatar's would-be-wife?

Or at least that was how the world would see it. Never mind that they were both actually very much in love with each other. The world would see it as another horrible thing that the fire nation did and nothing more. They would see it as a reason to continue the war, an excuse to fight, to lash out. They wouldn't see it as two people who wanted to be together and were doing nothing but taking that step. It made her really frustrated and helpless.

Katara laughed again and her lips quirked up in a bittersweet smile at the sound, smile she knew her best friend never replicated around Aang.

Politics sucked.

Had it been any other people they could've been together already, they could've had a _future_ together.

She smiled a little as she heard them chat away with each other, both obviously much more happy in each other's presence and she could feel their heartbeats race in the way it never did with their supposed partners. But then her smile melted into a frown as she heard their spouses call out for them as she felt their heartbeat slow down as they said their goodbyes and parted ways.

Shaking her head, Toph grabbed hold of Sokka's hand and dragged him out of the house and he let her, knowing exactly what was bothering his girlfriend.

Once again, she repeated the words she had said to him, many, many years ago, but this time in a much softer, and sadder tone as she tried not to let the tears she'd been holding back from watching two of her best friends suffer flow, "Sometimes," she whispered, "I wonder who's really the blind one around here."


End file.
